Tuesday, OCTOBER 28, 2025 |
Photo – SNAP logo – Courtesy Wyoming Department of Health
Governor Mark Gordon announced on Tuesday he is exploring options around the potential suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments on November 1 due to the ongoing federal shutdown.
In a news release, the Governor said that the first priority will be to ensure families across the state in need of assistance do not go hungry.
“We are working on ways to provide assistance,” the Governor said in written statement. “I have no doubt that Wyoming citizens will help by donating to their local food pantry, church pantry and charitable organization.”
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), around 29,000 people in Wyoming, including 13,000 households receive SNAP benefits in Wyoming. As Bigfoot 99 reported on Tuesday, the average monthly benefit is around $386 per household.
On a monthly basis, the federal program spends around $5.2 million to $5.4 million per month on food for Wyoming families. SNAP participants in Wyoming received around $62 million in benefits in 2024. Children and seniors receive the majority of the benefits.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture posted a notice on its website stating that federal food aid will not be issued on November 1.
The notice is blunt about who is to blame. The Notice at USDA reads simply, “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”
The shutdown, which began October 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.
According to a U.S. Census Bureau Map, Wyoming, as a state, is the least dependent on SNAP. Here in Carbon County, only 6.3 percent of the 5,885 households receive the benefits.
Nationwide, SNAP helps 40 million Americans, or about 1 in 8, buy groceries. The debit cards they use to buy groceries at participating stores and farmers markets are normally loaded each month by the federal government.
A black-market involving debit cards also exists in major cities where recipients sell their benefits and use the money to buy cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.
While chaos unfolds around SNAP and the government shutdown, a group of states led by Democrat politicians is suing the Department of Agriculture and its secretary, Brooke Rollins, for failing to use emergency funds to help alleviate the lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits caused by the government shutdown.
